TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1606, Guy Fawkes was executed for his role in the Gunpowder Plot in Britain. In 1917, Germany announced the renewal of submarine warfare in the Atlantic. In 1968, the North Vietnamese Tet Offensive began in South Vietnam. In 2006, Samuel Alito, Jr. took the bench as the 110th Supreme Court justice.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Franz Schubert (1797-1828), composer; John O'Hara (1905-1970), writer; Jackie Robinson (1919-1972), baseball player; Carol Channing (1923- ), actress, is 85; Norman Mailer (1923-2007), writer; Justin Timberlake (1981- ), singer, is 27.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 2003, the Chicago White Sox announced that they were changing the name of Comiskey Park to U.S. Cellular Field.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "A modern democracy is a tyranny whose borders are undefined; one discovers how far one can go by travelling in a straight line until one is stopped." - Norman Mailer

TODAY'S FACT: The first Social Security check, issued today in 1940, was for $22.54 and went to Ida May Fuller, who lived on a Vermont farm. Having worked less than three years under Social Security, she only paid $24.75, but had collected $ 22,888.92 by the time of her death in 1975.

TODAY'S NUMBER: 10,000 - the number of Baby Boomers who become eligible for Social Security every day.

TODAY'S MOON: Between last quarter (January 30) and new moon (February 6).